Book Frontiers

I haven't played much with video.  It is one area that I need to work on, technologically speaking.  I have tried a few tools that I find exceptionally easy to use, and that have relevance to my work as a librarian and media teacher. I want to say a "Thank You" to the people who are running the Teacher Challenge.  Without the "kick" to do this entry, I wouldn't have figured out how to embed these videos into the blog.  I also ventured into tweaking html to change sizes of things to make them fit better.  Thanks for giving me some incentive!

Here are my experiences.

1. Animoto

I have had great fun with Animoto.  I have used it for a variety of things, but below is my favorite--a short video of books that were most challenged or banned in US schools.  The combination of motion and music make the seriousness of the topic clear.  It is also amazingly easy to use.  All one has to do is upload photos and choose the music--the site will do the rest.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

2. Video

I have used a variety of videos in teaching, embedding them in classroom wikis or linking to them on interactive white board presentations.  It is nice to embed them, because then you can have just the video, without any of YouTube's adds or suggested videos getting in the way. (There are tools to make them cleaner--See Free Technology for Teachers.)  Here is one I like to use to explain how to search using Google. 



I also highly recommend the Common Craft show videos for teaching basic tech concepts to lower grade students.  Their video explanations of blogs, wikis, searches, and so on are extremely useful.  (I also particularly enjoyed their video on how to protect my brain from Zombies...)

3. Slide Shows

I have mostly used Slideshare to create presentations to share with students and staff.  I might now consider using the GoogleDoc Presentation feature, just to make sharing the material easier.  Here is an example of an introduction I did for our more tech newbie staff members.